A. Field of the Invention
This relates to instructing or teaching a pitcher in the proper body mechanics to throw a baseball without limitations in a direct line towards home plate and to a specific area of home plate.
B. Prior Art
There are many prior art references related to baseball and in particular teaching the young pitcher how to develop good body mechanics. Representative examples of them can be found in the following patents: Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,883, Imatoh U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,497, Williams U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,078, and Rivers U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,450.
The Williams patents teach a device that will help the pitcher achieve proper foot alignment as the pitcher delivers the pitch. These patents do not attempt to teach the pitcher his or her direct line to home plate or to throw toward any specific area of the plate. For instance, the Williams devices simply instruct the pitcher on the proper alignment of the pitcher's body after the pitch. The current device achieves the same result but improves upon the Williams patents.
Imatoh teaches a device to properly position the pitcher's arm during delivery of a pitch. It does not teach the proper alignment of the lead leg. Rivers details a system for training a baseball pitcher to properly position a drive leg at the middle of the delivery while throwing a ball.
All these particular devices teach or attempt to instruct a pitcher how to throw a baseball correctly towards home plate with limitations. However, pitchers use a variety of positions as to his or her foot placement on or around the pitching rubber without limitations. Once their foot placement has been determined the device in this case teaches the pitcher the appropriate alignment of the legs to give them their direct line during the pitching motion to home plate as well as directing the pitch towards a specific area of the plate.